Breaker strip construction and assembly



May 10, 1955 F. R. ECK

BREAKER STRIP CONSTRUCTION AND ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 16.1951 INVENTOR. FLOYD R. ECK

ATTORNEYS y 1955 F. R. ECK 2,708,052

BREAKER STRIP CONSTRUCTION AND ASSEMBLY Filed April 16,.1951 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

FLOYD R.ECK

' ATTORNE S United States Patent BREAKER STRIP CONSTRUCTION AND ASSEMBLYFloyd R. Eek, Des Plaines, Ill., assignor to Motor Products Corporation,Detroit, Mich., a corporation of New York Application April 16, 1951,Serial No. 221,303

7 Claims. (Cl. 220-15) The present invention relates to refrigeratorcabinet construction and refers more particularly to breaker strips foruse between the outer shell and inner liner of said cabinet.

It is an object of the present invention to provide breaker stripscharacterized by their attractive appearance, the ease with which theymay be assembled with the outer shell and inner liner, and the provisionof means assuring easy and quick connections between the breaker stripsand the liner and shell.

More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide abreaker strip having a groove along one edge thereof and a series ofhooks along its other edge for assembly with the shell and linerrespectively.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide arefrigerator cabinet having an outer shell and liner, each beingprovided with laterally extending flanges adjacent to the margins of theaccess opening of the storage compartment, and a breaker strip providedat one edge thereof with a groove for the reception of an edge of one ofsaid flanges, and provided at its opposite edge with hooks forengagement with suitable openings in the other of said flanges.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a breakerstrip structure wherein a top breaker strip, a bottom breaker strip, andside breaker strips have interfitting or overlapping end portions.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent as thedescription proceeds, especially when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a fragmentary front elevation of a refrigerator with thedoor and cover parts removed.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the refrigerator with the door-removed,showing the breaker strip structure in lace.

D Figure 3 is a fragmentary enlarged section on the line 33, Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a front elevation of the bottom breaker strip.

' Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view of the breaker stri Figure 6is an elevational view of a tie strip assembly used for interconnectingadjacent edges of the liner and shell.

Figure 7 is a section on the line 7-7, Figure 6. Figure 8 is a sectionon the line 88, Figure 2. Figure 9 is a section on the line 99, Figure2. Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated in Figure 1 arefrigerator cabinet indicated generally at 10 and having an enlargedfood storage compartment 12 provided with a front access opening 13which is normally closed by a door (not shown). The refrigerator cabinetisfprovided with a metal outer shell 14, and the storage compartment 12is formed by an inner liner 16. As usual, the liner 16 and shell 14 arespaced apart and the space therebetween is filled with suitableinsulating material 18.

Referring now to Figure 2 the breaker strips are shown as comprising atop breaker strip 20, a bottom breaker strip 22, and side breaker strips24.

Preferably, the top breaker strip 20 is of a special construction andserves also as a means for supporting suitable control mechanism asdescribed in my copending application, Serial No. 221,301, filed April16, 1951,.

now Patent No. 2,703,353. However, all of the breaker strips includespecially formed means for attachment to the liner and shell, and asthis attaching means is alike in all of the breaker strips, adescription of one of the breaker strips will be suflicient.

Reference is made to Figures 4 and 5 in which the. bottom and sidebreaker strips 22 and 24 respectively As seen in these figures, thebottom breaker strip 22 comprises an interhave been selected asillustrative.

mediate portion 30 adapted to extend completely across the front of therefrigerator cabinet beneath the access opening 13 and in addition isprovided with short up'-- turned legs 32. As best seen in Figure 5, thebreaker strip 20 includes a straight portion 34 which is substantiallyflat and which terminates along one edge in a thickened bead 36 providedwith a groove 38 for a purpose which will presently appear. The oppositeedge portion of the breaker strip 20 is bent as indicated at 39.Preferably, this bent portion 39 is gradually curved to impart apleasing appearance to the construction and tov conform to the offsetrelation between the lateral flanges of the liner and outer shell, asshown in Figure 3.

Moreover, the wall thickness of this bent portion 39 of the breakerstrip is of reduced thickness as is readily apparent in Figure 5. Thisis for the purpose of imparting suflicient flexibility to the breakerstrip to enable the same to be easily and quickly attached to the linerand outer shell. Preferably the breaker strip is formed of a thermallyinsulating material such as white polystyrene. This material has acertain amount of inherent flexibility and by reducing the thickness ofthe curved portion- 39,

its free edge may be given substantial movement with respect to thestraight portion 34 of the strip. At the same time the breaker strip isresilient so that it will im; mediately resume its originalconfiguration when stress is removed.

The free edge of the curved portion 39 of the breaker strip is formed toprovide a laterally extending continu ous flange 40. Rearwardly of theflange 40 and at spaced,

intervals therealong there is provided a plurality of hooks 42, each ofwhich is provided with an inclined camming surface 44 for a purposewhich will presently appear.

Reference is now made to Figure 3 showing the manner in which thebreaker strips are assembled with the liner and shell. In this figurethe shell 14 has its forward:

edge portion doubled and bent inwardly to provide a lateral flange 50.Rearwardly of the flange 50 the metal of the shell 14 is bent inwardlyto form another lateral flange 52. The liner 16 also has a lateralflange 54 which extends toward but is offset inwardly relative to theflange 50 of the outer shell. The breaker strip, which in the sectionalview of Figure 3 happens to be a side breaker strip 24, is positionedwith its groove 38 receiving the free edge of the inwardly extendingflange 50. The lateral flange 54 of the liner, as best seen in Figure l,is provided with a plurality of hook receiving openings 56, and inFigure 3 the breaker strip is'i1lus'- trated with its hooks 42 receivedwithin said openings 56.

When assembling the parts, the breaker strip is.first moved to fit thegrooved head 36 over the free edge ofv the lateral flange 50 of theouter shell. curved portion 39 of the strip is flexed to engage thehooks 42 of the breaker, strip with the openings; 56 in. a g the lateralflange 54 of the liner.

Due to the inclined camming surface 44 of the hooks, the lateral flange40 Patented May 10, 1955;

Thereafter, the- 3 is thus drawn tightly against the outer surface ofthe flange 54.

In order that a proper interfitting relation will be obtained betweenabutting portions of the separate breaker strip members 20, 22 and 24,the construction best illustrated in Figures 8 and 9 is employed. InFigure 8 there is shown a sectional view through the lower portion ofthe depending legs of the top breaker strip and the upper portion of aside breaker strip 24. It will be observed that at its lower end the topbreaker strip is provided with an outwardly formed downwardly extendingflange 60, the inner surface of which is coplanar with the outer surface62 of the top breaker strip and the outer surface 64 of the bottombreaker strip. The flange therefore provides a cover over the connection between the two breaker strips and conceals any space which mayexist therebetween such as the space indicated at 66 in the figure.Moreover, the flange 60 is smoothly rounded to present an attractivebead appearance as is apparent from an inspection of Figure 8.

The connections between the side breaker strips 24 and the upper ends ofthe upwardly extending legs of the bottom breaker strip 22 is shown inFigure 9. Each side breaker strip 24 is provided at its bottom end witha rearwardly extending flange 70. Each upwardly extending leg of thebottom breaker strip 22 is provided with a rearwardly projecting flange71, upwardly extending flange 72, and forwardly extending flange 73,providing an opening 74 for the reception of the rearwardly extendingflange 70, and by this arrangement the forward exposed surface 75 ofeach side breaker strip 24 is coplanar with the corresponding surface 76of the bottom breaker strip. Inasmuch as the connections between the topbreaker strip and the side breaker strips include provision for slightvariation in spacing, no such provision need be made at the points ofconnection between the side breaker strips and the bottom breaker strip.

It will be apparent from an inspection of Figure 3 that means such as atie strip assembly indicated generally at 80 in Figure 3 is preferablyprovided for connecting together the inner liner 14 and outer shell 16.

As seen in Figure 3, and as shown more in detail in Figures 6 and 7, thetie strip assembly 80 comprises a flat metal strip 82 provided with anelongated narrow strip 84 of a suitable insulating material, such forexample as polystyrene. The plastic strip is formed with a projectingpilot 86 which extends through an opening 88 provided in the metal plate84, and is further provided with an attaching stud 90 which extendsthrough an opening 92 provided in the metal plate as shown in Figure 7.After the stud 90 has been inserted through the opening 92 it may beformed outwardly to provide a rivet type connection as illustrated inFigure 7. The strip assembly is provided with openings 94 and 96 for usein assembly with the edges of the liner and shell. As best seen inFigure 3, one edge of the metal strip 82 is fastened to the inwardlyextending flange 52 provided on the outer shell, suitable fasteningmeans for this purpose being illustrated at 93. The strip extends acrossthe space between the shell and liner and the insulating strip 84 isabutted against the inner surface of the flange 54 extending outwardlyfrom the liner 16, thus preventing heat transfer between the shell andliner. Suitable fastener means indicated at 109 are employed forfastening the tie strip assembly to the flange 54 and this means may ifdesired include means for insulating the fastening elements from theflange 54.

The drawings and the foregoing specification constitute a description ofthe improved breaker strip construction and assembly in such full,clear, concise and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in theart to practice the invention, the scope of which is indicated by theappended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A thermally insulated cabinet having a storage compartment providedwith an access opening, a shell for said cabinet having a flange at theside of the opening extending inwardly of the opening and generallyparallel to the plane of the opening, a liner for said compartmenthaving a flange at the side of the opening extending outwardly of theopening generally parallel to the plane of the opening, one of saidflanges being spaced outwardly from the interior of the cabinet furtherthan the other of said flanges, said one flange having a free edgeportion, the other flange having a series of aligned openings locatedsubstantially beyond the free edge of said one flange in the directionin which said free edge extends, a breaker strip formed of a hardflexible and resilient plastic material having along one edge thereof agroove for receiving the free edge of said one flange, said strip beingtransversely bowed to present a convex curvature at its exposed side,said strip having a continuous edge portion along its other edgeengaging the front of said other flange and overlying and concealing theopenings therein and having a series of hooks spaced from saidcontinuous edge portion and extending rearwardly through said openingsand engaging the rear of said other flange.

2. Structure as defined in claim 1 in which said hooks extend away fromthe free edge of said one flange to provide for insertion into saidopenings by flexing said strip in a direction to increase its transversehow.

3. Structure as defined in claim 2 in which the edge portion of saidstrip at the edge engaged with said free edge of said one flange issubstantially flat and the transversely bowed portion thereof isadjacent its other edge.

4. Structure as defined in claim 3 in which the bowed portion of saidstrip is thinner than the fiat portion to provide for localized bendingof the strip in its bowed portion.

5. Structure as defined in claim 2 in which the surfaces of said hooksengaged with the rear of said other flange are inclined rearwardlytoward the adjacent wall of the compartment liner to cam said striptightly against said other flange.

6. A thermally insulated cabinet having a storage compartment providedwith a front access opening, a compartment liner having an inner flangeat a side of the opening and extending outwardly generally parallel tothe plane of the opening, a cabinet shell having an outer flange locatedforwardly of said inner flange and extending inwardly generally parallelto the plane of the opening, said outer flange having a free edge, saidinner flange having a series of openings parallel to the free edge ofsaid outer flange and spaced inwardly therefrom in the direction inwhich said outer flange extends, a thermal breaker strip of hard butflexible and resilient material having spaced means along the outer edgethereof for receiving therebetween the free edge of said outer flange,said strip being bowed rearwardly and having along its inner edge a beadoverlying and concealing the openings in said inner flange, and having aseries of hooks extending through said openings and engaging the rear ofsaid inner flange.

7. A thermally insulated cabinet having a storage compartment providedwith a front access opening, a compartment liner having an inner flangeat a side of the opening and extending outwardly generally parallel tothe plane of the opening, a cabinet shell the forward portion of whichis provided with a front flange located forwardly of said inner flangeand extending inwardly generally parallel to the plane of the openingand a rear flange located rearwardly of said front flange and alsoextending inwardly generally parallel to the plane of the opening, saidinner flange having a series of openings spaced from its edge, a breakerstrip having its laterally outer edge provided with spaced meansreceiving theiebetween the edge of said front flange and hook portionsalong its laterally inner edge received in the openings in said innerflange, and tie means connecting said rear flange and the portion ofsaid inner flange outward from the openings therein.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 86,571Miller Feb. 2, 1869 1,127,643 Kramer Feb. 9, 1915 1,694,291 Sywert Dec.4, 1928 2,172,458 Shuart Sept. 12, 1939 2,286,109 Rundell June 9, 1942 6Goulooze May 9, 1944 Quinn May 9, 1944 Anderson June 13, 1944 DrakeSept. 12, 1944 Nauert Jan. 23, 1945 Kruck Dec. 7, 1948 Iwashita Mar. 6,1951 Frykdahl Jan. 15, 1952 Sulcek Mar. 4, 1952 Moore Jan. 13, 1953FOREIGN PATENTS Australia June 5, 1947

